What did John Howard say to those Charities?? those words changed a Nation....

When John Howard as Prime Minister of Australia Introduced the GST into Australia Many huge Charities tried to claim they would not be able to help those that they advocated for.

This is what Peter Costello said:

(Peter Costello was the treasurer)

Transcript No. 99/95 TRANSCRIPT OF The Hon Peter Costello MP TREASURER Doorstop Parliament House Thursday, 9 December 1999 3.55 pm SUBJECT: GST & Charities

TREASURER: Well, can I say, that the Government has received a report from the Charities Consultative Committee, which was set up as a result of the agreement with the Australian Democrats to help work through rulings for charities. And that Committee has been able to resolve nearly all of the issues. And some of the issues that it wasnt able to resolve, the Government has now resolved directly with the Australian Democrats. And I pay tribute to the work of Senator Woodley and Senator Lees and her colleagues in enabling us to resolve a number of those issues. I now believe that nearly all of the issues have been resolved with the charitable sector to its satisfaction. And as part of the agreement with the Australian Democrats this committee will run on and it will continue to progress work that comes up from time to time. Some of the significant changes that have come out of the work of the Committee is the ability to recognise units as separate, and if they are separate branches, or whatever they be, that arent turning over $100,000 they can stay completely out of the system. That means any fundraising that is below $100,000 can stay out of the system. In relation to newspapers and journals and the like, those newspapers and journals which are produced by charities and non-profits, and arent sold on a commercial basis, theyll be outside of the system, GST-free. And in relation to assistance to the charitable and non-profit sector that therell be financial accommodation to them. Therell be $40 million directly to the sector and about $25 million delivered through organisations. And thats about $65 million direct to the charitable sector, which will help them with compliance and the like. And Ill stop there to try and beat the rain. JOURNALIST: Treasurer, can you guarantee charities that they wont be any worse off now under the new tax system than they were beforehand? A lot of them are saying, theyre in the tax net like this for the first time. TREASURER: Many of them will be much better off. Let me explain how and why. First of all, in respect of their charitable activities where they register they charge no GST on any of their charitable services and they get back all of their input tax credits. So they get back embedded costs for the first time. Second area where theyll be significantly better is, in relation to Government grants. When theyre able to claim back wholesale sales taxes, and that means the cost of many of their purchases is lower, it was thought that if the Government were applying the rules that its going to apply to the government sector the Government would reduce grants, but it wont be. Itll be grossing grants up for the full effect of the GST. So the savings will be totally captured by the charities. Now this rule isnt the rule the Governments applying to itself, by the way. The Government is

going to be reducing grants to its own agencies to capture the benefit of those embedded wholesale sales taxes. In relation to fundraising and the like, only where they go into the commercial activity would they be subject to GST and only if the commercial activity, one type of activity, exceeds $100,000. So in respect of non-commercial activities, in respect of charitable activities, theyll be significantly better off. JOURNALIST: Treasurer, apart from the $65 million, do you anticipate any further cost to revenue? TREASURER: The $65 million is going to be taken out of the $500 million that the Government set aside for GST Start-up. So thats direct to the charitable sector, but its all already in the Budget. So, that $65 million will be delivered directly to the charitable sector, of benefit to them. And I think thatll be very welcome actually. JOURNALIST: . . . thats the total cost . . . TREASURER: Well, thats, the total cost to revenue for the assistance is $500 million, thats already in the Budget. And out of that $500 million, $65 million goes to the charitable sector. JOURNALIST: Is there any unforeseen fiscal impact something that wasnt allowed for in the Budget? TREASURER: No, theres been full budgeting for the $500 million. The $65 million comes out of that. Can I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

The Australian Institute Reported :

So Charities are claiming that they will have to look at how they work in our communities and that the general consensus was that families would be very disadvantaged and would miss out on the help they sought if the charities were forced to pay a GST... This angered John Howard , so much he made a statement that changed the way a nation helped its Communities....

JULY 1 2000

ST

John Howard Told all the Charities that said they were going to cut back on helping the homeless and the destitute that how could any charity stand by and allow anyone to suffer John Howard went on to say why is it when anyone needs something they rely on their government, why cant communities start helping themselves

How do you sit back and watch people suffer when the suffering is happening right now, if we dont help who will, I will never forget those words John Howard Spoke when confronted with the prospect of his government being blamed for national disgrace for taxing the charities that were very concerned they going to have to cut back on their services. I applaud John Howard for making Australians responsible for themselves, Communities need to stop waiting for governments to stand them up, we need to look after ourselves and be more prepared to treat those that are suffering, we need to show others that if we do it they should do it, Australian Human Rights is not going to wait for its right we have a right to support our community and every man woman and child deserves their right to a free, non discrimitive fair and equitable Australia, we deserve to be protected and to be treated equal, To do any different would be to be wrong for all.....